Thursday, December 10, 2015

All About "Ant-Man"

"Ant-Man" is the Marvel film that I've enjoyed the most since the
first "Avengers." However, it's a little difficult to parse who is
ultimately responsible for it. "Ant-Man" was Edgar Wright's dream
project for ages, but he parted ways with Marvel over creative
differences, and was eventually replaced by Peyton Reed. However,
Wright's name is still all over the movie - he has executive producer,
screenplay, and story credits. Several of the comedic and action
sequences are clearly his work. Reed's a decent director, but frankly
has never displayed the kind of proficiency with comic-book visuals on
display in "Ant-Man." On the other hand, it's not fair to attribute all
the good bits to Wright. There's a lot of good dialogue and Marvel
worldbuilding that definitely didn't come from him.

Paul
Rudd stars as Scott Lang, who we first meet being released from prison,
determined to go straight, ending his career as a skilled thief and
burglar. However, finding employment is tough for an ex-con, and Scott
needs money quickly to pay child support and be reunited with his young
daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson). He's convinced by his ex-cell
mate Luis (Michael Peña) to break into the house
of scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), to steal the contents of a
mysterious safe. It turns out the contents are a mysterious suit that
allows the wearer to shrink to the size of an insect while retaining the
strength of a full size man, and Pym engineered the whole burglary as a
test for Scott. Pym wants Scott to take on the mantle of the superhero
"Ant-Man," and help him and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lily) to
stop Pym's former protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from developing his
own suit and selling it to the highest bidder.

The
familiar origin story formula has been shaken up in some good ways
here. First, it's largely structured as a heist movie, where Scott,
Hank, and Hope spend the majority of the second act training, planning,
and hashing out personal issues in preparation for stealing Cross's
prototype suit from a heavily guarded facility. Second, the shrinking
powers allow for some very entertaining variations on the standard fight
sequence. Instead of a final showdown leveling cities or endangering
planets, the finale of "Ant-Man" takes place in a child's bedroom amidst
a heap of toys. Other action sequences take place in a suitcase, in a
bathtub, and in water pipes. The conceit sounds very silly at first,
but it allows for so much inventiveness playing with scale. Scott also
learns to command an army of loyal CGI ants, adding to the sense of epic
in miniature. He even rides a winged carpenter ant into battle.

I've
never been much of a fan of Paul Rudd, but he fits into the role of
Scott Lang nicely, giving him a sense of innate decency despite an
impressive resume of wrongdoing. However, Michael Douglas really stole
the show as Hank Pym. I love how much history and old, unfinished
business the characters here have with each other, and how it plays into
the story. Pym's another version of the Tony Stark genius
entrepreneur, one several decades further along who is now working to
mend old relationships and address his mistakes. Douglas really sells
his stubborn pride and arrogance, with a mushy heart of gold underneath,
of course. He even gets the messy emotional stuff with his daughter to
mostly work. As for Evangeline Lily, she was was decent
but underused. I can only hope this will be corrected in the upcoming
sequel.

"Ant-Man"
does suffer from some of the same issues that most of the other Marvel
movies do. Chiefly, the villain is a bust. Corey Stoll isn't even
trying to play Cross as anything other than a sober version of his
character from "House of Cards." Also, there are a few too many awkward
tie-ins to the other Marvel movies shoehorned in there, from the
pre-credits scene to the after-credits scene, to a contrived fight with
one of the Avengers that probably should have been cut for time and
pacing issues. The script could have used a few more passes too. There
are plot holes everywhere and the shrinking powers are terribly
inconsistent. Scott is awful at asking obvious questions. And Hope
having to spend the entire movie convincing her father to let her put on
the suit made Marvel's problem with female superheroes all the more
apparent.

Finally,
I have to come back to the lack of Edgar Wright. I enjoyed "Ant-Man"
as it is, but I was also very aware of all the ways in which it probably
would have been better if Wright had directed it. I can't help
thinking it's such a shame that we never got to see the movie he wanted
to make. Then again, we're lucky that the film did get made without
him, and is as solidly entertaining as it is.

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About Me

Hello. I am a female thirty-something visual media junkie, who spends way too much time consumed with television, films, internet videos, and the fandom associated with them. So I might as well blog about it. Here I will chronicle my adventures in media - reviews, meta, articles, recs, and musings.